BEND, OR -- Governor Kate Brown outlined priorities for her last term in office during a speech at the City Club of Central Oregon, Friday. She says one thing she's focused on is making sure everyone has access to healthcare, "This last Legislative session, we were able to get bipartisan support to make sure that every single child in this state has access to healthcare; and that's really great." She told Central Oregon Daily it's very important that reasonable voices from across the state weigh in on important issues, "Rural and urban Oregon, Democrats and Republicans, and Independents at the table, helping us craft policy. Policy that's crafted with the diversity of voices is more respectful, it's more resilient, and more reflective of our communities."

During her City Club presentation, Brown outlined ideas she says will preserve Oregon's beauty and bounty by tackling climate change through transportation and renewable energy, "We're seeing the impacts of climate change every single day in this state. We have had the warmest year since 1895. Not 1985, but 1895. So, it is a moral, and frankly economic, imperative that we move forward on clean energy jobs legislation."

She also talked about successes, "Our economy is doing quite well in many parts of the state. We have the lowest unemployment rate on record in Oregon's history, which is very good news." Oregon has one of the fastest job growth rates in the country, but Brown says it hasn't been entirely equitable growth. She wants to work to increase opportunity in rural areas, as well as among under-served populations. Brown says Children can't learn in school if they don't know where they're going to sleep at night, "Every Oregonian should have access to a safe, warm, dry place to call home, and it should be affordable and accessible." She says she wants to focus on helping three groups find safe housing: children, the chronically homeless, and veterans. She says that starts with the Legislature agreeing to her plan to invest $400 Million dollars in housing.